


Safewords

by deathtouchwlw (deathtouch)



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Collars, F/F, First Aid, Hurt/Comfort, Light BDSM, emotional breakdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:07:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22825351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathtouch/pseuds/deathtouchwlw
Summary: Femfeb 2020 | Fanficanon asked: submissive ana
Relationships: Ana Amari/Angela "Mercy" Ziegler
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28





	Safewords

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd! all mistakes are my own.
> 
> thanks to darkwatch friends for pre-reading and apologies for inaccuracies abt woundcare LOL

"Put the collar on first?" Ana asked.

Angela sat back on her heels, blinking her eyes in surprise. "Ana you're bleeding." There was blood smeared all over Ana's skin, and things were steadily growing redder.

Ana grabbed for Angela's hand where it had pushed up the hem of her shirt, wrinkling the dark fabric. She squeezed her fingers, making Angela's forehead dimple with concern. "I was bleeding before I got here, and I'll still be bleeding by the time you walk down to that room and back again. Put the collar on first."

Angela looked as though she was going to argue for a second there, but her eyes shifted to the open wound on Ana's side and that seemed to make up her mind. 

"Put pressure on it," she instructed.

Ana let go of Angela's hand in order to dig the heel of her palm into her own wound. She clenched her jaw in pain.

"Don't pass out till I'm back," Angela demanded, standing up. She took off like a deer after a shot, sprinting down the hall.

Ana leaned back against the wall, dropping her head back with a thud. She could feel her will deflating now that she was relatively safe. Even if she did pass out Angela would come back in time to fix her up and see her awakened again. 

It was lucky that Angela was even here to be honest. She was normally out, putting in time at any of the nearby hospitals that would take her or setting up her own humanitarian station somewhere. Ana usually had to call ahead to let her know she would be coming by. Angela often needed time to get back.

This was different though. Ana had crawled here in desperation because this had been closer than any of her own safe-house locations. She didn’t patrol in this part of town very often, so she didn't have any hideouts nearby. She should have known she would get herself in trouble on this side of the city eventually. It was just dumb luck that Angela's place was here, or else Ana would be well and truly fucked.

She hadn't expected to find Angela inside. Ana thought she could just break in and take care of herself. She knew that the bathroom down the hall was fully stocked and there were plenty of other spare supplies to be found. It was, frankly, an ideal place to treat her wounds. So, Ana had barged in the front door like a bull in a china shop. Imagine her surprise to find Angela home, charging down the hall, side-arm out, ready to fight an intruder.

Ana blinked her eyes, pretending they weren't growing tired. She had never really looked at these hallways before. They were nice. From the carpeted floor to halfway up the wall there was white wood paneling. The wood met a clear line of grooved molding which gave way to white wallpapered walls. The wallpaper had very tiny, wispy, silver patterns. The carpets were nice too, though they sort of reminded Ana of that movie The Shining. She looked down at her stomach and wondered if she wasn't doing an impression of those elevator doors opening and gushing blood.

Actually, she was bleeding less than she had been earlier. Not much, but a little bit. She couldn’t remember if that was a good sign or not.

"Hey, hey."

Ana opened her eyes, unsure when she closed them. She was surprised to find Angela standing in front of her, catching her breath.

"What did I say about you passing out on me?" Angela asked, going quickly to her knees. She had a pristine white first aid kit with her.

Ana must have been out for a few seconds. She struggled to sit up. She was feeling too safe, and she needed to remember she wasn't in the clear yet. She was still bleeding heavily. She had to keep fighting, even if that just meant fighting to stay awake.

Angela set the first aid kit on the carpeted floor. She patted down her pockets for a second, seeming a little flustered, before she remembered what she was looking for. She produced the familiar black leather collar from her back pocket and wasted absolutely no time putting it on. She buckled it securely into place and tightened it around Ana's neck. When she was finished, she gave the collar a hard tug, really waking Ana up.

"Damn you for making me do this, Ana."

Ana almost smiled. 

Angela was just worried about her; that was why she was so angry. Her tone might have been hard, and her words unkind, but it was so clear in the look on her face. It was the wrinkles in her forehead, and the frown of her mouth. It was even in the frantic way she opened the med kit and started pulling out supplies. Her haste was only because she was so worried, so clearly worried. It was kind of odd; Ana didn't normally get to see her like this. She was usually so calm and collected.

Ana felt content with the collar on. She wanted to reassure Angela the same way the collar had reassured her, but she couldn't find the words. She let her hand be pushed away from the wound, giving in to Angela's care willingly.

Angela brought fresh, clean bandages to the open gash in Ana's skin. She mopped up a lot of the messy blood and then cast the reddened gauze aside. She found more clean bandages and pushed them hard against Ana's sluggishly bleeding injury. Angela wrapped medical tape all the way around Ana's midsection, tightly securing the dressing in place. When it was all finished, she broke out a miniature biotic packet, cracking it to spill the life-saving glow over the freshly bandaged wound.

It was only then, on her knees at Ana's side, hands covered in quickly drying blood, that Angela allowed herself to take a deep breath. "Okay," she murmured, mostly talking to herself. "Okay. Once the blood flow has stopped a little, I'll stitch you up."

Ana wasn't keen on letting other people take care of her wounds. She trusted Angela, but Ana had grown accustomed to doing this sort of thing alone. She had learned to take care of herself over these last few years on her own. It was only after Angela had put the collar on that she became willing and pliant, and it was the collar that made her nod her head gently now. Normally she would refuse and attempt to stitch herself up, but she gave this task over to Angela and absolved herself of it entirely.

"I apologize," Ana said, genuinely.

She wished she had her gag. She was gonna say something stupid...

"For ruining my hallway with all your blood? You should." Angela shook her head, adjusting the biotic pack a little. She peeked at the bandage underneath and was glad to find it wasn't soaked with red yet.

"For bringing this on you," Ana continued. "I... this is my fight. I shouldn't..."

"Stop." Angela moved to settle. She shifted from her knees to sit cross-legged on the floor. "Would you be apologizing if you'd broken in and I wasn't here?"

Ana considered. No. She would have taken what she needed, fixed herself up, and left. 

“Still.” She felt bed. She hadn’t known Angela was going to be around. She hadn't purposely come crawling to her, begging for help. That just wasn't her style. She hadn't intended for this to happen, but it had. She had let Angela help her, demanded that she be collared even. She'd gotten Angela mixed up in everything without meaning to. "I'm sorry."

Angela opened her mouth to speak but stopped short as laughter bubbled up from Ana's chest. It wasn't a real laugh. It manic, hysterical in a way; almost ominous.

"I used my safeword," Ana laughed out.

Angela's fingers gave an involuntary twitch. Apparently, she had a very reactionary response to Ana's safewords, even if they were mentioned only in concept.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. 

"He just kept hitting me, and hitting me, and hitting me," Ana continued laughing and the laughs that snuck in between her words started to sound more and more like sobs. "And hitting me and hitting me."

"Ana," Angela grabbed Ana’s hand and squeezed her fingers. They were sticky with blood. "Who was hitting you?"

Ana swallowed the lump in her throat and let her head fall back. It hit the wall harder than intended. She squeezed her eyes shut tight. Her chest rose and fell heavily for a few long moments. "...just a grunt, not even an impressive fighter. Some Talon grunt who got a cheap shot in and wouldn’t… wouldn’t stop... None of my bullets would hit. He just kept dodging and I just kept missing. I..." Ana seemed to get, not choked up but, stuck for a second. "...he got the advantage, you know. Got me at close range. Got one hit in and kept hitting.”

Angela squeezed Ana's fingers tighter before she could get lost any deeper in the memory. "It's okay," Angela assured. "He's not-"

"I used my safeword," Ana whispered. She rolled her head to the side and opened her eyes, looking right at Angela. "Yellow. I said yellow and she kept hitting me."

It was clear by the look on Angela's face how much that upset her.

"So, then I started shouting red." Ana laughed very suddenly then, or maybe sobbed. "I screamed it, and he wouldn't stop."

Angela abandoned the biotic pack and wrapped her arms around Ana's shoulders instead. She pulled her in for a tight hug, clutching her close in desperation. All at once Ana started crying. She cried, and she grabbed at Angela's clothes, and she leaked ugly tears all over Angela's shirt and didn't even attempt to hold herself back.

Despite not wanting her to get her mixed up in all of her vigilante escapades, this was what she came to Angela for. Ana couldn't be on all the time. She had to break every once in a while. Just enough to let everything that was building up inside of her pour out. Then, Angela would help put her back together and send her out on the front lines once more. Just like old times. The methods were different now, there were collars and safewords involved, but the sentiment was the same. 

Ana cried, and Angela let her, and they stayed sitting like that in the hallway for a long, long time.

When Ana did finally stop sobbing, Angela gave her a gentle pat on the back. "Let's get you stitched up." She suggested.

Ana pulled back, wincing a little. She nodded.

Angela stood first. She collected everything from the first aid kit, shoving it back in rather carelessly. She left the bandages, heaped and bloody on the floor. She helped Ana get to her feet. Ana was surprisingly steady despite all the blood loss. She didn’t need to lean on Angela very much as they walked, but she did need to go slow.

Angela led her to a room that Ana had never been in before. It was surprisingly big considering the size of this place. There was a twin bed with dark sheets and beside the bed there was a night table with a desk lamp. In the corner there was a desk. Ana did a full scan of the room checking for all entrances and exists. There was a small door on one wall and after a long hard stare at it Angela kindly filled her in.

“It’s a closet. It’s empty. C’mon, just come lay on the bed.” Angela tugged on Ana’s arm as she spoke.

Ana swallowed, and she felt the collar around her throat. It reminded her that she belonged to Angela in that moment, and that it was Angela’s job to take care of her and keep her safe. She had to let herself let go. She followed slowly to the bed. She shed her shirt and gingerly laid herself down. She curled on one side, exposing the bandage to Angela.

Angela turned on the light on the bedside table. It was a black reading lamp with a flexible neck. Angela angled it to shine directly on Ana’s torso. She knelt on the floor beside the bed and reopened the med kit, starting to get to work.

“…this has gone too far, hasn’t it?” Ana murmured. She had her hands tucked under her head and she was staring straight ahead.

Angela glanced up at her from where she was cutting the medical tape away.

“If I’m using safewords in real life. This is… it’s too much. We should stop.”

Angela barely contained a sigh. She carefully peeled back the bandages, relieved to see that there was far less bleeding than she expected. “Sure, Ana. That’ll end well, you going back to the way things were. Is it the nightmares that you miss, or the shakes and panic attacks?”

Ana clenched her jaw. She may not have been dealing well before, but at least she didn’t start shouting colors in the middle of her fights with other vigilantes like some complete madwoman. Angela was right though. Things would be worse if not for their relationship. The moments where she was allowed to be submissive were the only things that kept Ana grounded anymore. She needed them. She shut up then and let Angela work.

Angela cleaned her wound. She used an astringent which made Ana hiss and seize up, but it cleared away the worst of the blood and dirt. When everything was clean Angela broke out the needle and sutures. Considering they had nothing to numb the pain, Ana sat for it surprisingly well. Her jaw was tight, and her hands were in fists, and she was breathing heavy by the end, but Angela got her all stitched up. She taped a clean bandage over the wound and offered Ana some pain killers.

When it was all said and done Angela sat down on the edge of the mattress near Ana’s feet. They sat quietly for a long time, comfortable in one another’s presence.

“…I didn’t even pick a fight.” Ana murmured. “I do sometimes. Most times. Seek them out. But I was walking home. I didn’t… he just came at me… and he wouldn’t stop…” Her voice trailed off. 

She sounded sad, and tired.

Angela reached out and put a hand on her knee. “I'm sorry, Ana."

Ana made a low noise. "...me too."

**Author's Note:**

> i'm taking femslash february suggestions year round  
> send requests or prompts ➝ [here](https://curiouscat.me/deathtouch)  
> femfeb '20 masterpost ➝ [here](https://twitter.com/deathtouchxx/status/1223794127822839808?s=20)  
> follow me on twitter ➝ [here](https://twitter.com/deathtouchxx)  
> thanks for reading ✩°｡⋆


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